Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The joint committee has been very supportive of producers and has advocated on their behalf, especially producers of fresh and seasonal products. We highlighted this issue in December 2013. Last Christmas, the joint committee welcomed a commitment from the retail multiples that they would not engage in a price war. We were chastised for our position and there was some spin and counter-spin, with the committee being accused of being in breach of competition law. I should clarify that we asked the multiples not to engage in a price war. We did not ask them to set a minimum price, much as we may have liked them to do so.

We found during our hearings with the major multiples and their representative organisations that they became very defensive when challenged on issues such as "hello" money. As the retailers have shown over the years, there is more than one way to skin a cat, even if hello money, as we understand the practice, is not used. We need to be vigilant, as the price war and tendering issues have highlighted.

The door is still open in respect of introducing national regulations. We must ensure that enforceable regulations are introduced, with statutory powers of oversight. We were reassured by officials from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation that companies found to be in breach of the law were engaged in a higher class of criminal act. It would be interesting to find out how the United Kingdom authorities deal with four retailers. I hope they will be named and shamed.

The issue boils down to Deputy Ó Cuív's point on the need for fair trade for all. It is the European Union's stated objective that everyone should be able to secure a viable income. The industry will not survive otherwise. Mr. Brophy referred to the size of his payroll in the context of a provincial town. It must be very important to the area in question. If production is lost and everything arrives in a chilled truck or container, it will not return because people who give up growing fruit and vegetables do not start again. I am something of a veteran in this regard. Many years ago, I used to visit the vegetable market at 5 a.m. on most Mondays. I did not do so because I like to get up early. As with everything else, one does what one is paid to do.

I will circulate a strong statement on this issue to members. We welcome the evidence we have received on various practices in the sector, which the witnesses did not discuss in detail for understandable reasons. The joint committee will play its part. As the witnesses have seen, there is all-party agreement on this issue and all sides fully supported the report we published in October 2013.

I thank the representatives of the IFA's protected vegetables and crops committee, Mr. Foley, Mr. Brophy, Mr. Grimes and Mr. Doyle, for appearing before us.